Missing Night Watchman: Richard Diamond, Private Detective (June 21, 1953)

“Missing Night Watchman” is an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast June 21, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When a night watchman disappears along with $50,000 in rare gems from an importing company's shop, private detective Richard Diamond is hired to recover the jewels before the eccentric collector who owns them demands an accounting. The investigation leads Diamond through a tangle of suspicious characters, a mysterious antique Buddha with ruby eyes, and a body pulled from the river.

New York City and Long Island, 1953. The Far East Importing Company shop, Diamond's detective office, police precinct headquarters, Lassdown's house on Long Island, and various city streets and residences.

Characters: Richard Diamond, Helen, Mr. Crimby, Arthur Bluck, Philip Lassdown, Lieutenant Levinson, Otis

Listen for: The banter between Diamond and his secretary Helen, the colorful descriptions of Lassdown's eccentric personality and theatrical complaints, the police procedural details including ballistics analysis of the antique gun, and the escalating confrontations as the case unravels.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.